Court jails Emirati woman in gang rape case

A UAE court sentenced an Emirati woman who had accused six men of raping her to a year in prison for illegal consensual sex. The court handed a similar sentence to one of the men.

The criminal court in the UAE capital of Abu Dhabi acquitted four other men accused of having various roles in the alleged rape. It jailed two of them to three months for illegal mixing with the opposite sex and fined two others AED5,000 ($1,360) each for violating public decency.

“Thank God. One year is better than two or three years,” said the 18-year-old woman as the verdict was announced. Violating the Islamic prohibition on sex outside wedlock is punishable by a minimum of three years in prison and 100 lashes.

The woman had accused a police officer and five other men of raping her on May 2. Charged with having extramarital sex with one of the men, she then withdrew the claim on May 24, explaining June 7 in an interview in the courtroom that she had done so to “get out of here.”

Lawyers for the five male defendants said a medical examination of the woman didn’t support her allegations of rape. Charges against the sixth man were dropped. (Bloomberg)